Travels near and far

earthquake

‘I was working here in Durbar Square, standing right over there, when it all started. Within minutes I was the only one alive’, says our guide, pointing to a pile of rubble that used to be one of the most beautiful and ancient temples of Kathmandu’s main historic quarter, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

That day, on 25 April 2015, the earth shook all over Nepal. The tremors of 8.1 in magnitude brought about unparalleled death and destruction. That day and during subsequent aftershocks, 9,000 people lost their lives, 22,000 were injured, and hundreds of thousands lost their homes and livelihoods.